Swych

insanely naive... do you have any idea about prices of anything in london?

i'm gonna hunt these places down then. are modern and bar around the yale campus? i've heard both names.

if i was to take my girlfriend out for a meal where? i konw theres lots of casual dining places, but somewhere with slightly more refined food?

as i said there are 3 parts, it depeneds on what you want to do. niseko town is in hirafu.

i was never really good at skating, could only ollie, shuvit and hardly 180s but i picked up snowboarding in 3 days to link backside and frontside turns. it took me 5 to carve smoothly (and blacks were nothing at that point, until moguls [sp?] come along). I think a 10 day trip would help u guys get to grips with the sport and even enjoy the mountain a little (even the girls)

if you're starting off stay around ann puri, or if u want food and nightlife, stick to hirafu. hirafu is an all round more advanced slope and is pretty noob unfriendly (my gf flipped on me when i took her there). Ann puri is kinda quiet tho and you might need to drive/ taxi to get to food. tho if you look hard there are some services for food delivery (i.e. shabu shabu- they even lend u a pot). another good newb spot in hirafu is hanazano, its quite scenic too.

try and find the niseko magazine (i dont know the name exactly). there's a bunch of ads for food etc.

i always liked the quick and cheapness of ivy noodle, but you probably already know about that place.

actually no i've only been here for a week. school just started and i have 3 more years to go so i have to start the list.

poly it seems like from all the pvd advice you'll now have to school me on new haven/ CT too- i'll be sure to check out rudy's soon.

I haven't heard of the burger place yet. but i know that the pizza here is worth the drive down even from Boston. the debate is between frank pepe's and sally's, but i prefer pepe more. make sure its the white clam pizza you get. my uncle used to do the boston- new haven drive when he was at grad school and i finally saw why.

you're kidding me. you expect shopping there aside from dunkin donuts?

could use some food/bar recommendations tho, shithole that it is.

I've been snowboarding in japan every winter break for the last 4-5 years and have checked out quite a few resorts. I tend to go for about 7-10 days so maybe my tastes would be similar to yours.

One thing to bear in mind when choosing a resort tho. I don't know if this is acknowledged, but I find that Hokkaido is better than Nagano when it comes to early snowboarding. I've been to Nagano to be greeted by plenty of greenery and although it was rideable, the experience was disappointing. On the other hand, during Dec/ Jan there have been days where higher lifts were closed in Hokkaido due to snow storms (the serious shit).

Herpsky has pretty much nailed Kiroro. great food, great entertainment, amazing powder. Unfortunately the mountain is a pretty small, and was lacking in variation in landscape. Then again, I have to say it's pretty noob friendly, and the rentals there are ok.

I've been going consistently to Niseko recently, just because the place is so big and there's always something fresh to ride (the off track stuff, tree stuff etc is awesome. It's also pretty noob friendly (amazing ramen joint at the base of the bunny slope), and plenty of shops and restaurants around the town. If you go to Niseko, HIrafu village has all the shops. Higashiyama is central so you can access both Hirafu and Annapuri. If you guys are still learning to carve etc, Annapuri is porbably the best mountain to learn on.

I've also tried out Rusutsu, and I foudn it less crowded/ touristy than Niseko. Though it's smaller than niseko, there is still plenty to ride. There is also a burton Learn to Ride rental centre.

if you need instructors, niseko is the way to go because its swamped with australians and more westernized. it may be hard to find english speaking instructors in the smaller resorts.

screw the shopping part, simply paying number nine a visit for the sake of is reason enough.

Will be in hk on friday, anyone know a good place to get a haircut??

IFC Il Colpo, ask for Rex- 700 HKD

good luck arranging a haircut on a weekend on short notice.

oh and in hk, good italian restaurants at moderate prices are more abundant.

Gaddi's not really good anymore.

Thing with restaurants in hk, vee_dub, is that nothing is good at mid range prices. There are really good cheap eats, and really good high end restaurants, but nothing in the middle is worth the money- food doesn't stand out, and half the time you pay for the cliched ambience. In a nutshell, mid range restaurants are not worht making an occasion out of.

Second problem is that 'french food' is subjective- how french do you want it? Traditional bistros fail in general in hk, but there's alot of french inspired cuisine- my personal favourite is Gough 40 (on Gough street), though it's not really THAT french (but good food, and great ambience- i recommended it to my brother for valentine's day and he enjoyed it alot).

Last time I checked (about 1 year ago), Harlan's at IFC was still serving up good food at moderatish prices. I heard that chef Harlan is now under pursuit for spending company money on a lux car (also the foods gone shitty). Thats certainly french, and the food is very rich in flavour (creamy buttery and heavy- truly french i guess) but I'd recommend Gough 40 over it.

If you're willing to pay for an experience, I'd recommend Pierre or Atelier de Joel Robuchon.

in the funky looking IT that stocks brands like x-large in causeway bay, you'll find a bunch of sophnet. there's a sophnet store inside.

isdenn has reykjavik nailed.

When i went i stayed at the hotel leifur eriksson (maybe bad spelling, google it). its right across the hallgrimskirkja cathedral and very walkable to the main street for shopping and clubbing. it was a 30 euros a night (through travel agent) and the room was basic but everything was clean. i think itsj ust icelandic hygiene standards- even a shitty 2 star room is satisfactory, unlike nyc.

i spent 5 days in iceland. 1 in reykjavik is plenty during the day. the other 3 i used on tours. there isn't much to buy but the nightlife is good and relaxed. people really just hang around off the street generally, like a more refined version of highschool drinking. i'd just dress casual- definitely not a place for buttoned up shirts.

This is a fairly common itinerary for iceland (i went alone to shoot some photos in march- still snowy):

day 1: get off plane, visit blue lagoon spa on teh way to reykjavik, get to hotel in evening. all shops closed so wait for nightlife.

day 2/day 3. super jeep tours:

tour of southern coast for coastal features. like volcanic beaches, stacks and caves etc. an extended tour is availbe from may to december for the glacial lagoon which i missed and really wanted to see (its further along the path on the south coast, so add an extra day if u decide to venture out there)

'golden circle tour' for the inland mountain and spring features like waterfalls and geysers and mountain ranges etc

day 4- reykjavik wandering.

if you go to iceland dont miss out on the stuff outside. thats where trip truly made an impression. i can't stress how impressive and grand the whole nature thing is (i'm normally just a city rat).

day 5- fly out

Okay - I guess a bit oversize is ok. I've send you a PM.

Still looking for the sweater in M or L though.

yeah i need one too... 44-46 help the needy...

yeah thats how i noticed you first. you made that umbrella you carried look tiny.

have fun and if you see me around Central make sure to give me the Superfuture secret handshake.

actually dude i saw you in teh armani building today. i was with my dad tho cos he wanted some advice on picking out a suit so i just let it slide. next time maybe.

i liked the grey cardigan btw

This thread is turning abit nasty...

its turning into the tokyo thread.

cept there's no ballin to be done here. shit stink too much

just follow the crowd and pop round dragon-i, volar, drop, kee club, solas, prive. the first couple of those spots may be a little played but they're all still packing in the pretty kits and socialistas on the regular.

the probably with those places are exactly those regulars. i'm finding those chicks hard to tell apart. all hk girls are seemingly more and more the same to me. slinky top + bootcut/skinny straight jeans + gold/ silver sandally heels. probably all share teh same hair stylist too.

need some freshness injected back into hk nightlife...

hows about using some deodorant instead?

well thye need to make anti backterial deodrant thing then

and fadetoblack2: i entirely agree. a friend dragged me to sevva the other day to enjoy the open view from a skyscraper in central. was so bitter about the dry cleaning bill after a mere 2 hours use of a new shirt. goddamn hong kong humidity.

yeah forget the bed, u can just pay 90 bucks to sleep 20 mins in a diu lei lo mall.

i actually like the steak with pepper sauce from those hk cafes. they sell a lump of meat for 25HKD and cover it in pepper sauce. u don't get the flavour of the meat but its def the best value for quality u can find.

don't go to that steak king chain whatever u do. if u really feel like splurging for a meal I'd recommend the steak from Mandarin Oriental. The Mandarin Grill has an unrivalled selection of cuts in HK in terms of quality. expect to pay $500 per person.

^ whatever, if you're here in the summer, this is serious shit. Stepping outside at all is like diving head first into a pool of gross.

yea seriously. was at an outdoor party last night that got pretty big and you definitely need to spray some of that onto the stinky sweaty crowds.

make sure ur trigger happy and have a febreze on hand if you venture into MK.

Go to Ruttonjee center on the street in Central right behind Bape. If i spelt ruttonjee wrong look up Baskerville house. They also have an Alumnium store in Causeway bay that sells modern furniture, with an impressive chair selection. A store that cropped up recently is Homeless on Gough street (and other locations) for random home accessories. U should also walk around Wanchai, lockhart road, for things like lights etc. I think the best bed linen in HK is offered by Lane Crawford and I definitely second the Pacific Place one. The home store is separate from teh fashion store so remember to look for it.

All the stuff I listed are pretty pricey, so shop around!

i'm glad u enjoyed your time there. Was wondering if you have any specific recommendations- shop, restaurant or tourist attraction?

Bump post-

Guys I'm heading out to Osaka in a week and could use some help. Thomas and Whiskey did you guys end up moving out to Osaka in the end? I'm looking for goth ninja shops and so far i've heard of:

Instinct by Midwest in Umeda

Gordini in Horie

Jet Park Avatara in Minamorie

Wallace and Murron in Horie

Space Osaka

Dress Council Archive

oh and since Kyoto is so close-

The Bloc building

Bullet

(both off mindtrive)

did I leave anything out?

Also aside from shops, I'm also looking for local food. Ramen, okonomiyaki, curry, ton katsu etc. Any suggestions?

yeah i forgot to criticize the lack of toppings and sauces and that barley tea they serve. and the price.

I went there for lunch again today and have ot say i was more impressed. the akamaru i had in ippudo for dinner was subpar but i wanted to point out that they also have a different lunch menu.

i tried the wakara (sp?) ramen (it has red spicy minced pork) and that was pretty damned good. it wasn't a dan dan noodle but similar. in fact, i think its better than nyc ippudo's akamaru so its worth trying. btw they dont serve shoyu or miso ramen for lunch.

(this ramen dining thing is bs)